


Decay

by Akira_of_the_Twilight



Series: Strangers in Space [1]
Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Space, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Canonical Character Death, Child Abuse, Experimentation, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Pre-Slash, Prequel, Pseudoscience, Tony Angst, Tony Feels, Tony-centric, Unethical Experimentation, animal experimentation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-07
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 20:01:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7120447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akira_of_the_Twilight/pseuds/Akira_of_the_Twilight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prequel to <i>Don't Trust Strangers in Space</i>.</p><p>---</p><p>Tony studied the scientific journals on the disease that had been nicknamed Brain Decay.</p><p>The disease had appeared in the last decade and scientists were still trying to find the cause behind it. It had been theorized that it had been a mutation of Alzheimer’s Disease (a mutation in which the brain literally turned into decay over a period of weeks). It was only recently that that theory had been discarded. Now there were hundreds of more in its place.</p><p>Yet no cure or vaccine.</p><p>No one was even sure if it was genetics or spread through bodily fluids or some other form of contamination.</p><p>It was all a giant mystery.</p><p>One thing was for sure though, Tony had to stop it, or at least find some way to combat it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Decay

Tony slapped his cheeks and shook his head. He had to stop thinking—no, he had to _keep_ thinking. He just had to keep his thoughts focused on the problem at hand.

Tony slid his finger across his tablet. He cursed when his trembling caused his line to falter. He erased it and started over again on the blueprint.

Except what was the point in continuing? The formula was all wrong. He’d made a simple mathematical mistake. It was just addition. Even a six-year-old with an average IQ could have avoided his mistake, and he was thirteen years old and a certified genius. What was wrong with him? He shouldn’t be this affected—he shouldn’t be this messed up, but—

Water splattered on the tablet’s screen.

Tony choked on a sob. Humiliation burned him and caused tears to flow freely, which only made his embarrassment worse.

His chest wracked with silent cries as he fell to his knees and curled up on the floor of his lab.

Someone knocked on his lab’s door.

“Tony.” His mother’s calm and soft voice penetrated through thick door. “May I come in?”

Tony breathed deep, shuddery breaths. He had to get himself together. Stark men didn’t cry. Stark men were stronger than that.

Tony didn’t feel strong though. He just felt a gaping hole in his chest.

Tony rubbed the back of his hands across his eyes and pushed himself onto his feet. “Can it wait, Mom? I’m kind of busy here.”

“I just want to talk. Please, let me in.”

Tony’s heart panged. He knew exactly what his mother wanted to talk about, but he couldn’t stand the thought of her seeing him like this—of her saying something to Howard. Howard would never let him live this down. Tony hadn’t cried since he was five and that was how Howard liked it. There would be no tears in Howard’s house. At least, none shed by Tony.

“Tony,” she pleaded.

Tony cursed. He loved his mom, and he never could deny her anything. Sucking in a breath that made his throat feel raw, Tony said, “Come in.”

Tony tensed as the door opened. He kept his back to it, but his mom must have had a sixth sense about these things, because suddenly he was wrapped in her arms with his head nestled against her shoulder.

More tears sprang into his eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Tony,” she whispered and rubbed a hand down his back. “I know how much Jarvis meant to you.”

A sob tore from Tony and clung to his mother.

Jarvis had been his butler and nanny all his life. Even when Howard complained and said they should fire Jarvis and buy another android, Jarvis stuck around. Jarvis was always there for him, comforting him and taking care of him when his parents couldn’t or just plain wouldn’t. He’d loved Jarvis.

And now Jarvis was gone.

* * *

Tony studied the scientific journals on the disease that had been nicknamed Brain Decay—the disease that had taken Jarvis from him.

The disease had appeared in the last decade and scientists were still trying to find the cause behind it. It had been theorized that it had been a mutation of Alzheimer’s Disease (a mutation in which the brain literally turned into decay over a period of weeks). It was only recently that that theory had been discarded. Now there were hundreds of more in its place.

Yet no cure or vaccine.

No one was even sure if it was genetics or spread through bodily fluids or some other form of contamination.

It was all a giant mystery.

One thing was for sure though, Tony had to stop it, or at least find some way to combat it.

It would be easy if it were an arm decaying or a leg. Cybernetics was a flourishing field, and it wasn’t unusual to see someone with a replaced limb or two. Even some vital organs could be replaced by mechanics.

The brain, though, that wasn’t something that could be replaced. It was something far too complex, and even if one could create something like a brain you couldn’t simply insert it into the human and expect the person—the soul, if Tony were being poetic—to be there. It would be like switching out hard drives and expecting the new one to have everything the old one did. Impossible unless one did a data transfer.

Tony hummed and scribbled that thought down on his tablet.

Data transfer.

Or in the case of the brain: memory transfer.

* * *

“What is this?” Howard sat at his desk and held up the prototype glasses Tony had configured in his search to transfer memory.

“A prototype,” Tony deadpanned. It’d been six months since Jarvis’ death. Six months, and he’d barely made any headway in what he wanted to do. It chaffed him to ask his dad for help, but if he could intrigue Howard enough, maybe Howard could let slip some idea or information that Tony could use to further his experiment. “The glasses you are holding are designed to access the hippocampus. Once the hippocampus has been reached they can then aid the wearer reliving and accessing old memories, and in doing so—”

Howard threw the glasses at Tony, and Tony barely had any time to catch them before they hit the floor. “You’re still wasting time on this memory transfer idea you have in your head.”

“The percentage of people diagnosed with Brain Decay has grown in the last year. No one knows where it started, so no one has any idea how to cure it. If we could though transfer the memories—somehow manage to turn them into data that could be put in a computer—may be could-“

Howard guffawed. “Listen to yourself. You’re trying to make androids that are just good at acting like the person you want them to be. Even if you were to tap into the entire limbic system so you could make your little android believe it had experienced every emotion and thought that occurred in those memories, all you would have is a fake—a copy.” Howard shook his head. “You’re not saving anyone, your just giving people a way to live in denial.”

Blood rushed to Tony’s cheeks. He clenched his fist. “And how would you solve the problem?”

Howard’s brow furrowed. He shook his head. “I’m an engineer, not a neuroscientist.”

“And here I thought you could do anything.” Tony drenched his words in sarcasm.

“Watch your tone, Tony, or I swear I will punish you the way people used to before all these sissy psychologists claimed a good whacking was too emotionally scarring for children.”

“Oh? You mean those psychologists who made that discovery centuries ago?”

Howard slammed his hands on the desk and stood.

Tony trembled, but held his ground.

Howard glowered down at Tony. The fingers of his dominant hand twitched as his gaze picked Tony apart.

With a huff, Howard dropped some of the tension out his stance and waved Tony out of the room. “Go back to your make-believe science and cures. You are a child after all; I should let you play before the adult world comes in and shatters your idealism.”

Tony wanted to say something, but the words clogged the back of his throat. His hands had not stopped trembling since Howard had stood. Howard hadn’t been drinking so Tony should be safe from any drastic harm, but there was just something about Howard’s presence when angry that always triggered an innate fear in Tony.

Tony kept his head high and defiant as he marched out of his father’s study. The moment he was outside and had shut the door, he slumped and breathed deeply to calm himself.

He didn’t care what Howard said. He’d find some way to save everyone.

* * *

Tony was seventeen when his mother was found unconscious in the living room.

Tony watched in fright as the medics carted his mom away to the hospital. He’d arrived at the hospital probably minutes just after the ambulance had brought her in. He tried to control himself when he demanded information from the receptionist android, but only got a “she is being examined right now” response.

Tears threatened to spill as he paced the hospital. He quickly rubbed them away when he saw his father burst into the hospital and start making demands.

As much as Tony hated the man, Howard was able to get more information. The doctors had finished all of the preliminary tests and Maria would be put in a room over night.

Once Howard and Tony had obtained what room Maria would be in, they hurried to room.

Maria was already there, unconscious and strapped to so many machines, Tony choked on his panic.

That many machines couldn’t be a good sign.

Howard barged into the room and pulled up one of the unoccupied chairs. Tony mimicked his father. He grabbed hold of his mother’s hand and hoped for a miracle, now matter how unlikely.

Hours later, Tony had fallen asleep and was woken to his father shouting outside of the room.

“She showed no signs, and now you’re telling me—”

“I’m sorry,” the doctor interrupted. “But when it comes to Brain Decay, depending on the progression rate and where the deterioration starts, there could be no signs of the disease until the final stages.”

“It’s the brain! There should have been some earlier signs. Something—”

“I’m sorry, sir, but we have done all that we can do.”

Tony’s heart plummeted and his insides turned cold.

“Will she wake up before the estimated time left?” Fury and blame laced every word Howard spoke.

“Because of the state of the decay, and its current rate and location, she has a less than 99% chance of waking.”

Howard huffed. “So she is dead then.”

“Not qui—”

“Shut up!” Howard shouted. “Don’t patronize me. She may have a few breaths in her, but she’s just a body now.”

Tony squeezed his mom’s hand and hunched over. The tears cascaded down his face.

The doctor was silent.

Howard threw open the door and scowled at Tony. “Let’s go.”

Tony white knuckled his mom’s hand. “But—”

“Now, Tony. No need to hold on to a corpse, no matter how animated it is.”

Tony hesitated. He wanted to stay with his mom just a little longer, but he feared what Howard might do in such an emotional state if he declined.

“She’s my mom,” Tony whispered.

“She’s dead,” Howard stated, and maybe Tony imagined it, but he swore he heard a wobble in Howard’s tone. “Get up, Tony, or I will make this even more unpleasant.”

With one last squeeze, Tony let go of his mom’s hand and stood.

He trudged out of the room, but not before stopping in front of his dad and saying, “You’re the worst.”

“You’ll thank me for this later, when your last memory isn’t of her last breath.”

Tony wasn’t so sure about that.

* * *

Tony watched as one of the family bots rolled away with a large bin filled to the brim with empty bottles of alcohol from Howard’s study.

It’d been a month since Maria had passed, and Tony missed her everyday. For a while, all Tony could do was drink himself to sleep at night. Then one morning he’d wandered into the kitchen to find his father shit-faced and almost drowning in a pool of scotch. The sight had sent Tony reeling and made his stomach twist into a thousand knots. He didn’t want to be Howard, so he forced himself to not reach for a bottle every time he thought of his mother.

His father had only grabbed more bottles.

Tony wasn’t sure if there was a second Howard was sober in the day any more.

Tony took a deep breath and knock on the study’s door. He hated Howard, but his mom would want him to check on the old man. “Dad?”

No answer.

Tony knocked again. “Dad?”

Tony pressed his ear to the door. He heard mumbling and shuffling.

Frowning, Tony pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Howard was hunched over his desk with holograms projected all around him. He tapped on his tablet with one hand and dragged his finger through the graphics in the air as he adjusted his calculations.

Tony froze, recognizing some of the projected blueprints and formulas. “Those are mine.”

Howard nodded, still moving and calculating. He mumbled and stretched across his desk to reach one projection. The action caused a vodka bottle to fall and spill all of its contents across the desk. “Yes, yes. The foundation is yours, but everything is improved. So many errors. Looking at things from the wrong angle. You can’t just simply convert memories into data or turn the brain into a computer. However combing the brain and technology to create a brain that is both organic material and computer...”

“You stole my idea!” Tony shouted. He’d started with a simple plan to transfer data, but Howard had been right all those years ago. So two years back, Tony had taken his research and had started looking into finding a way to make the brain part machine and organic. Maintaining the organic portion would mean the person—the core of who they were—would remain untouched, while the technology piece would pick up the slack where biology couldn’t by helping the brain heal faster and recreate tissue where destroyed.

“Your idea was stupid and not fully thought out. It was too small. You could never think big enough. We need a cure, not some band aid that doesn’t even really work. The brain needs to repair itself, but it needs help. If we could create something to speed up that process...”

Tony marched into the room and pointed the projection of his formula. “And what do you call this?”

“An underdeveloped idea.”

Tony went to another projection. “This is my research on the brain, cybernetics, and biotech.” Tony gestured at the projections. “Half of this stuff is mine.”

“Yet you couldn’t even use it properly. Maybe if you had, you could have saved your mother.”

The words were a knife in Tony’s heart.

“Ah-ha!” Howard swiped his hands through the projections, causing them to disperse. He then picked up his tablet and rushed toward the exit. “Finally, we are getting somewhere.” He hurried out of the room and toward his lab.

Tony gave chase. “You could have come to me. We could have worked on this together.”

Howard stopped in front of his lab, door halfway opened. “You would have only slowed me down.”

Tony scowled. “No, that’s the alcohol, not me.”

Howard laughed, stepped into his lab, and slammed the door in Tony’s face.

Tony stared at the door as anger, hurt, and betrayal wrestled inside him.

* * *

Tony snuck into his father’s lab and shut the door behind him. He waited for siren wails and flashing lights like he was in some child’s cartoon. When none came, he breathed a sigh of relief.

It had been weeks since Tony had learned that Howard had stolen his formulas and was using them as his own. Everyday Howard came out of his lab more drunk than he had before and more furious. Something was going wrong in the lab, but every time Tony tried to break into Howard’s server to find out, the old man had more and more encryption set up to stop Tony from peering in.

Well, there was more than one way for Tony to get information.

Tony went around the lab, looking for something new and out of place.

It wasn’t hard to find since the desk was upturned and Howard’s tablet lay on the floor, along with several vials of a substance. Nearby were several mice in cages.

Tony picked up the tablet and sighed. Not only was it encrypted but it wanted retinal and thumb scans. Friggin’ paranoid Howard.

Tony picked up a vial off the ground and pocketed it.

He hurried out of his father’s lab and rushed to his own.

He’d analyze the formula and figure out what his father had been up to.

* * *

Tony stared at the readouts on his tablet then looked up and gaped at what had left of the serum.

His dad had created a serum of nanite bots that could potentially alter human biology as the world knew it, and his formula was just off by a digit.

With just a little adjustment, Howard could create a serum that could not only heal the human brain, but it could repair and/or replace every cell in the body as needed. Not only that, but as of right now with just a few more tweaks Tony could easily make it so not only could the nanites communicate with each other, but they could also pick up brain wavelengths and communicate with other technology. In other words, Tony could set it up so someone infected with the serum could turn on a tablet from across the room without ever going near it; all they would have to do is think about it.

It really was only a few tweaks, and Tony just couldn’t resist.

Tony locked himself away in his lab and set to work on proving that he wasn’t as useless as his dad thought he was.

* * *

“You broke into my lab and stole my serum?” Howard’s voice was filled with venom.

“Call it pay back.” Tony carefully injected the mouse he’d selected for his experiment with his new and improved version of Howard’s serum. “After all, half of your research was done by me.”

Howard seized Tony’s arm, yanking the needle out from the mouse before Tony had a chance to complete the injection.

“I am your father. Everything you think you own belongs to me. You think you could have come up with any of that if I hadn’t paid for your schooling? Hadn’t built you a lab? Hadn’t put food on the table day and night? You ungrateful brat!” Howard raised his hand to slap Tony.

Tony flinched and brought his arm up to block.

Inside he screamed with panic, but externally he just gritted his teeth and pushed his father away. “God, you’re drunk. You reek so much of alcohol, I might suffocate.” Tony covered his nose and mouth. The action wasn’t for show. Howard did reek.

A weak squeak drew Tony’s attention to the mouse on the table.

It had fallen on its side and its breathing had grown labored.

“No,” Tony whispered in horror. He placed both hands on either side of the mouse. “No. I double-checked everything. Right now this mouse should be healthier than ever. It should be able to send messages to your tablet once I activate the secondary communication network. Tell an android to fetch it cheese.”

Howard scoffed. “See? You can’t do anything right.”

Tony sneered. His shoulder blades rammed together. “I can. I just made an error somewhere.” It physically pained Tony to make such an admission to Howard.

Howard huffed and picked up the needle with what was left of Tony’s serum. “Garbage.”

Howard went to the hazard waste bin with the needle.

“What are you doing?” Tony chased after Howard and grabbed him by the arm. “Stop. That’s mine!”

Howard shoved Tony away. “It’s a failed experiment, and I am putting it where it belongs.”

Tony’s heart leaped into his throat. “No!” Tony lunged.

Howard cursed and tried to shove Tony away again, but Tony refused to be pushed around. He latched on to the syringe in Howard’s grip, not caring how close he was to touching the needle’s tip.

Father and son wrestled.

Howard rammed his shoulder into Tony, and at the same moment Tony felt the painful prick of the needle.

Tony gasped as he looked down at the needle. The new angle had caused his father to push up against the plunger and send the plunger down the hub, pushing the serum out through the needle and into Tony.

Tony fell to the floor.

The syringe fell out of Tony’s arm.

Tony clutched the injection zone.

Howard’s dilated gaze widened with horror as he looked down at his son.

Suddenly Howard was yanking Tony up and shoving him onto one of the lab tables, all the while commanding his computer to scan Tony’s body. Tony was numb as Howard examined his body.

Tony clutched the table’s edge as he recited the serum’s formula upon Howard’s request.

Howard cursed and set to work trying to create something that might stave off the effects of the serum.

Tony turned his head and stared at the mouse just a few feet away.

It was dead.

* * *

Hours later and Tony still wasn’t dead. In fact, according to the readouts from Howard’s computer, any impurities had been cleaned from Tony’s body and his metabolic rate had risen, which explained why Tony felt like ordering two large pizzas and eating them all by himself.

“Amazing,” Howard whispered as he looked over the data.

Tony was torn between beaming with pride and indignation. He’s finally done something to impress his father, yet even as Howard marveled over the readings he was receiving from Tony, he’d yet to actually acknowledge that Tony was responsible for his seemingly healthier body.

Tony looked down at his hands. Scars from his childhood and his roughened skin had all disappeared.

Tony glanced at the dead mouse.

Approximately 90% of tests results gathered from experiments on mice did not match the results when the test was preformed on a human. The variable that made it so Tony survived his inject while the mouse died almost instantly would be hard to discern without further testing.

“Catch.” Howard threw a stress ball at Tony.

Tony flinched and caught the ball.

“Perfect.” Howard pulled up a projection that contained security video footage of Tony in the house. Every video was of Tony catching something.

Tony watched as the computer analyzed the videos and compared it to his most recent catch.

There had been a six percent increase in reflex.

Howard clapped his hands together and let out a victorious hoot. “My boy, we are on to something.”

“You mean I am,” Tony said.

“Yes, yes,” Howard waved off Tony’s comment. “Now to run a few more tests. We may not have only found a cure for Brain Decay, but we might have created a way to extend human life for centuries.”

* * *

Tony officially hated being a test subject, but every time the data came back with positive results, Tony was able to push himself onward to the next test. So far not only had his healing factor and reflexives increased, but he was physically stronger too. He could already do so much more than he could before, and he hadn’t even activated the program that would allow him to communicate with computers.

Instead he was more focused on helping Howard compile enough information to receive government funding for their experiment.

It wasn’t until about three weeks later that Tony pulled out his tablet and hovered his fingers over the keys that would initiate the communications program.

He was scared, but so far his experiment had proven successful in stage one, and that had required a lot more research into scientific fields he was not as familiar with. Stage two relied more heavily on computers and engineering—two fields he’d always excelled in. If stage one was a success then stage two should be as well.

Tony told himself that over and over again.

He typed in the code to initiate the program.

Tony felt a tingle along his brain.

Suddenly he saw zeros and ones everywhere as images flashed across his eyes. Hundreds of videos played before him, and article after article crammed itself into his brain.

Then everything went black.

* * *

Tony woke to a white lamp shining down into his face.

Tony groaned, his brain feeling like mush and everything was swirling. He tried to roll over onto his side but something soft and padded was holding him down.

Tony lifted his chin up and looked down himself.

He was strapped to a medical table.

Tony’s heart pounded and his breathing increased.

“So you’re finally awake,” Howard slurred.

Tony turned his head toward his father’s voice.

Howard was disheveled and fisting a bottle of whiskey in his hand. Howard downed a mouthful and set the bottle down on the table closest to him. He stood and marched over to Tony. “Months. Months wasted. Whole year too. Just wasted and all because you had to be a selfish brat and hide your formula and codes.”

Tony scrunched his face and tugged on his bindings. “Months? What are you—”

Howard slapped Tony. He growled. “You pass out, make yourself Sleeping Beauty or whatever the hell stupid fairy tale princess you aspire to be. Couldn’t wake you. So I tried to push the project forward, get Extremis to more people.”

Tony’s memory flashed at the name “Extremis”. It had been one of the names Howard and him had been considering for their serum.

Howard shook his head. “It didn’t take. Every volunteer: dead. But not you.” Howard chuckled. “Not you. Just sleeping. Took me forever to realize your brain couldn’t handle so much data at once. You didn’t give your brain time to adapt. Went into your tablet and relaunched the program to introduce data to you in stages until your brain could adapt.”

So then Tony could theoretically access computers. Tony looked around the lab, his eyes landing on Howards tablet. He tried to connect with it, but to no avail.

Howard snickered and poked something on Tony’s forehead. “Disruptors. Keeps you locked in your head. So tell me what you did Tony. Why did your serum work but mine didn’t?”

“I didn’t hide anything.” Tony squirmed. “If you looked through my tablet then you have everything on Extremis.”

Howard slammed his hands on the table, right next to Tony’s head.

Tony’s heart rate ratcheted up.

“Lies.”

Tony took a deep and shuddering breath to calm himself. “I’m telling the truth. If you don’t believe me, then take a blood sample and reverse engineer it.”

Howard threw his head back and chortled. “You think I haven’t? The whole time you have been unconscious I have been taking samples of your blood. I’ve copied everything, yet nothing works. Why are you the exception?”

Tony swallowed hard as Howard leaned in so there faces were inches apart. “I don’t know.”

Howard slapped him again.

Howard pivoted and marched to the door. “Then this is where you will stay until I get my answers.”

* * *

Tony lay there in the dark. He took deep breaths to keep himself calm and closed his eyes. He curled and uncurled his fingers.

He yanked on his restrains and listened as the metal clattered. Even against the soft padding, he’d rubbed his wrists raw. It made his wrists tender and sore, but it also gave him information.

Extremis should have healed him by now so the disruptors on his head were blocking out all communications between nanites.

Tony rolled his head side to side. If there was just some way he could get the disruptors off his head then maybe he could use Extremis to contact one of the bots and get himself out of the lab.

Tony wiggled until he exhausted himself.

Tony lay flat on his back and stared at the ceiling.

He’d been unconscious at least a year, and now he was a prisoner in Howard’s lab.

Tony screwed his eyes shut and tried not to think about all the time he’d lost and all the time he’d continue to lose.

* * *

Tony’s body was convulsing from the loss of blood and bile rose in his throat. He breathed deep but choked on his vomit. Tony turned his head to the side and spat the vomit out.

From his new angle, Tony could see the bags of blood Howard had drawn from him.

* * *

Tony’s stomach grumbled. He couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten. His limbs were heavy and his head was swirling.

He closed his eyes and passed out.

* * *

Something crashed inside the lab.

Tony’s eyes fluttered opened. The room was pitch black, making it hard to see anything. He waited for Howard’s curses, but instead heard a different voice. Deeper.

Tony used all his strength to turn his head sideways.

A tall, muscular, and shadowy figure had entered the lab. Tony tried to make out the features of the person, but his eyes watered and he was hit with another dizzy spell.

He groaned.

The shadow figure stiffened and looked toward him.

There was a sharp inhale and suddenly the figure was right there and staring down at Tony with piercing blue eyes. A muzzle like mask covered the lower half of the person’s face, causing the emotions in their eyes to be more striking. Concern furrowed the person’s brow and they carefully touched Tony’s face.

Tony moaned and leaned into the soft touch.

The man cursed, his voice muffled by the mask.

The man reached out and seized one of Tony’s restraints.

Tony didn’t have much hope in the man’s success at removing the metal straps, so he was taken by surprise when the man ripped them clean off.

Adrenaline rushed through Tony’s veins, giving him the strength to look down at the man’s hand and see that it was made entirely of metal.

A cyborg.

The cyborg ripped off the remaining straps.

“I’m taking you with me,” he whispered as he slipped his arms under Tony.

A mewl like sound escaped Tony. He nodded and weakly reached out to wrap his arms around the man’s neck as the man bent to pick Tony up.

Tony sighed as his head rested against the man’s shoulder. He closed his eyes and clung to his rescuer, who cradled him.

The man hurried out of the lab as quickly and quietly as possible.

He snuck into Howard’s study where a second man was rifling through the drawers of Howard’s desk.

The second man—equally tall and muscular as the first—startled at Cyborg’s arrival.

“We need to go, Steve.”

The second man—Steve—eyed Cyborg and Tony. “Bucky, what—”

Bucky shook his head. “Not entirely sure, just know this fella was locked in the lab. He’s malnourished and hasn’t been bathed in days.”

“That’s Tony Stark.” Bafflement and horror coated Steve’s voice.

“I don’t care if he’s king of the Milky Way Galaxy. I’m not leaving him behind.”

“Never said we were.” Steve waved Bucky over to the open window they must have used to enter the place. “C’mon.”

Bucky nodded, and with hand on his back, reached up and peeled one of the disruptors off Tony’s forehead then squeezed Tony tight. “Don’t worry, fella. I got you.”


End file.
